Concert ‘The Best Action and Fiction Movies’ in Barcelona
Last Sunday, October 7th, the Excelentia Foundation organized a concert dedicated to the music of ‘The Best Action and Fiction Movies’ at the L’Auditori de Barcelona (read news).
Joan Masats, collaborator of SoundTrackFest, attended the concert and leaves us a summary article that we can read below.
THE CONCERT - ‘THE BEST ACTION AND FICTION MOVIES’’
The Excelentia Foundation and its Royal Film Concert Orchestra organized a concert on October 7th, 2018 at 7:30 p.m., with several original soundtracks: from the most known scores, to the current and classic soundtracks.
The concert was held at Room 1 – Pau Casals in the L’Auditori de Catalunya, a space that has exceptional acoustic characteristics by Higini Arau and Rafael Moreno.
The concert, even without selling all the seats, fulfilled the aim of bringing orchestral music closer to the masses. You could see from the youngest up the older ones among the public, everyone there ready to listen to their favorite soundtracks.
In collaboration with the Orfeó Gracienc and the Coral Cármina, and all conducted by the Australian Kynan Johns, the orchestra was composed by more than 60 performers and 100 people singing in the choirs.
Just seeing the stage full, even without the conductor, was so amazing that the show only could do better. They had a very varied repertoire, for all the audiences and all the ages: from Transformers or Marvel for the youngest ones, to Return to the Future for those who miss the 80s, to legendary pieces that have remained, and will remain, in our heads forever. (Or isn’t true that we love to hum themes like Star Wars, Indiana Jones or The Lord of the Rings?) Ti tiii tiriririiii…
The program was the following:
FIRST PART
- Alan Silvestri – Captain América
- Carl Orff – O Fortuna, Carmina Burana (Excalibur)
- James Horner – Braveheart
- Hans Zimmer – King Arthur
- Miklós Rózsa – Ben-Hur
- Ennio Morricone – The Mission
- Howard Shore – The Lord of the Rings
- John Williams – Jurassic Park
- Hans Zimmer – The Da Vinci Code
- Alexander Courage / Michael Giacchino – Star Trek
- Vangelis – Titans (Alexander)
SECOND PART
- Elmer Bernstein – The Magnificent Seven
- James Last – The Lone Shepherd (Kill Bill)
- James Horner – Avatar
- Vangelis – 1492 The Conquest of Paradise
- Alan Silvestri – Back to the Future
- Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard – Gladiator
- Steve Jablonsky – Transformers – Arrival to Earth
- Trevor Jones – The Last Mohican
- John Williams – Indiana Jones and The Raiders Of The Lost Ark
- John Williams – Star War – Duel of the Fates
- John Williams – Star War – Battle of Heroes
- ENCORE: John Williams – Star Wars – Main Title
The concert began with Captain America. A full declaration of intentions. Continuing with Oh Fortuna, Carmina Burana, which scares anyone even just listening to it on the TV, but leaves you absolutely frozen when you hear it live. It seemed that the apocalypse would have arrived! A perfect interpretation from the choir. There was a special clarinet solo performance that shined above other solos. In The Mission by Ennio Morricone, the oboe highlighted its sensitivity to play the most emotional and soft parts at the same time, while a string background accompanied the piece.
There was also a stellar performance of the trumpet solo in The Last Shepherd (Kill Bill), composed by James Last. Although the piece is originally written for pan flute, the arrangement for trumpet made the audience petrify.
It should be commented that until the second half of the concert the trombones stood out too much above the rest of the brass section, making a harsh sound that sometimes distracted from other instruments in the pieces.
The Lord of the Rings suite became a bit repetitive when the orchestra jumped through the Fellowship of the Ring theme and the Hobbits theme, pieces that all we know well, several times. It became a back and forth from the land of men to the Shire, without showing great motifs such as the ones for Sauron, Isengard, Gollum or the Ring theme itself.
For sci-fi fans, and to calm down the eternal war between the fans of Star Wars and Star Trek, the orchestra played both. Star Trek sounded especially huge, with a spectacular presence in front of other pieces that should have sounded bigger (while the size of the orchestra was the headroom) like in Gladiator, King Arthur, Jurassic Park or Transformers.
The end of the concert had a battery of John Williams’ works, easily recognizable for everyone, which made all the attendants stand up and cheer them. Both Indiana Jones, the themes of the new Star Wars movies, or the encore with the immortal Main Titles from Star Wars, gave us the perfect ending!
Usually, when you listen to an orchestra, you already have high expectations, but this time the Royal Film Concert Orchestra delighted us with an amazing audition and with a full variety of pieces, that left no one sitting in the chair.
Article by Joan Masats
